Transgender Teachers: The Personal, Pedagogical, and Political

J Homosex. 2018;65(12):1543-1581. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2017.1380989. Epub 2017 Oct 17.

Abstract

This empirical research study examines the experiences of three male-to-female transgender teachers who transitioned genders, in three different decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s) while actively teaching within Canadian K-12 public schools. I utilize poststructural storylines to explore how these transgender teachers navigated the personal, pedagogical, and political and the survival and transition strategies they developed to become intelligible within their schools. Their storylines illustrate how they developed counternarratives to challenge traditional discourses of trans invisibility, silence, shame, and fear.

Keywords: Gender identity; K–12 education; pedagogy; queer; teachers; transgender.

MeSH terms

  • Canada
  • Empirical Research
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Politics
  • School Teachers*
  • Transgender Persons*